This application is based on and claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 198 10 869.9 filed Mar. 13, 1998, which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a method for managing a subscriber""s telecommunication service data stored in an exchange as well as a server therefor in accordance with the preamble of claim 6 and an exchange therefor in accordance with the preamble of claim 9.
With continuing development, telecommunications networks are offering telecommunication service users increasingly more sophisticated convenience functions. Many of these functions are provided by intelligent networks. A keyword to be mentioned, for example, is the so-called Virtual Private Network (VPN), in which a private logic network is created within a public network. This logic network appears as a homogenous private network to the subscribers of this network; it also appears as a homogenous private network toward the outside, to all subscribers that are not incorporated in this private logic network. The functions within an intelligent network arc essentially provided by so-called Service Switching Points (SSP) and Service Control Points (SCP). For example, in case of a call destined for a VPN of the aforementioned type, an SSP, in a first step, detects that the call is generally destined for the intelligent network based on the call""s specially labeled dial number and requests the data required for further call setup from an SCP associated with it. In a second step, the SCP then provides, for example, the information that the call is addressed to a VPN and that an actual dial number of the subscriber connection must be used for further call setup instead of the specially labeled dial number, which is a logical dial number. Thus the data required to provide the aforementioned VPN service is centrally available in the SCP and is called off by the various SSPs. This data can be modified directly at the SCP or, for example, from a personal computer that may be very remote from the SCP and is connected to the SCP via a data line, e.g., via a line of an ISDN telecommunications network.
Other convenient features in telecommunications networks include, for example, various forms of call forwarding under specific conditions. For example, in so-called Call Forwarding Busy (CFB), a call is forwarded to a different dial number only if the originally dialed number is busy. In a so-called Call Forwarding Unconditional (CFU), a call is forwarded to a different dial number without any conditions. Such services are typical particularly in ISDN networks and are defined by uniform standards. The data required for such a service, e.g., a dial number to which the call is to be forwarded, is typically not stored centrally in an SCP as in the above example, but decentrally in the respective local exchange through which the subscriber using the service is connected to the telecommunications network. Thus, a call can first be routed to this local exchange, which can then forward the call based on locally stored data, depending on the setting, to the subscriber connection or to a predetermined dial number.
The data for the aforementioned services can be modified by the subscriber himself The subscriber dials an access identification code on his telephone, which gives him access to his personal data, and modifies the data as necessary, e.g., he actively changes call forwarding or deactivates it. The operating options on a telephone, namely voice input, voice output and keypad entryxe2x80x94on many telephones also data displayxe2x80x94severely limit the convenience of data modification and the scope of the modification possibilities. Moreover, the limited maintainability of personal data decreases the likelihood that the subscriber will use these features at all and increases the error ratio during operation.
Thus, it is an objective of the invention to make telecommunication service data that is stored in an exchange conveniently accessible for modification.
This objective is attained by a method according to the technical teaching of claim 1, a server according to the technical teaching of claim 6, a server according to the technical teaching of claim 7 and an exchange according to the technical teaching of claim 9. Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are evident from the independent claims and the description.